Compensation for robber denied drugs 'laughable'

Robber Peter Groves was compensated after being denied help with his drug habit whilst in prison

A victim of the career criminal responsible for landing taxpayers with a £1million bill because he was made to give up drugs in jail hit out at the award.

Convicted armed robber Peter Groves won pay-outs of almost £4,000 for himself and nearly 200 other former prisoners after arguing that their human rights had been breached.

But milkman Tony Pritchard, who was forced to hand over his takings after Groves held what he pretended was a gun to his head, said the case showed that Britain's compensation culture had gone too far.

The scandal - revealed in the Daily Mail - came after 45-year-old Groves was forced to go "cold turkey" and kick his heroin addiction after being jailed for eight years for attacking Mr Pritchard.

Supported by legal aid, he maintained that he and 197 fellow prisoners should have continued to receive drugs such as methadone paid for by the Government even after they had been put behind bars.

Yesterday the Home Office formally settled the case at the High Court in London amid fears that the bill to the taxpayer would be even higher if they had contested it.

The case provoked a storm of condemnation with Home Secretary John Reid accused of undermining rehabilitation of drug-using prisoners by caving in.

Last night Groves's 54-year-old victim - who five years on is still nervous about paying in money at the bank - joined his voice to the criticism.

The divorced father-of-three was waiting to be served at Barclays in Shifnal, Shropshire, in July 2001 when Groves ordered him to hand over the money.

"He was carrying what was obviously meant to seem like a gun in a plastic bag, and he held it to the side of my head," said Mr Pritchard.

"He was behaving wildly,obviously on drugs. I grabbed hold of it and it felt like a long, metal tube. I was terrified."

Nevertheless the self-employed milkman resisted bravely and the pair wrestled, spilling outside onto the pavement before Groves escaped with nearly £700 in cash. The object he was holding turned out to be a hammer.

Groves was caught a few days later and in 2002 was convicted of armed robbery and jailed for eight years.

He had only just been released from a 12-year sentence after attacking a jeweller at his home in Lichfield, Staffordshire, taking him hostage, pouring petrol over the terrified man and taking him to his shop where he was forced to hand over up to £250,000 in gems.

Yesterday Groves claimed he had begun using heroin while serving that sentence - "I had nothing else to look forward to" - and on his release had to turn to crime to pay for his habit.

When jailed again, he was forced to detox with just two days' worth of medication. "It took five weeks and I didn't sleep a wink - it was horrendous," he said.

"The warders just called me 'junkie scum' and left me to get on with it, but I thought I deserved better."

While inside, he contacted solicitors, and on their advice posted an advert in a prisoners' newspaper. It yielded nearly 200 responses, and they will now share £750,000, with costs to the taxpayer bringing the total bill to around £1million.

Mr Pritchard, who lives in Shifnal, said: "This is simply laughable - every one of these criminals will be responsible for putting people through ordeals like mine.

"No-one had made him take drugs, and he should just have accepted his punishment, and yet this human rights legislation means he too can jump on the compensation bandwagon.

"It's the lawyers I blame - the system needs to be changed to prevent these sort of claims."

Ironically, Groves, who was released in August and is now at a probation hostel in Worcester, claims not to have touched drugs since and insists he will not return to crime - he risks a life sentence if convicted again.

He added: "I can understand why people would say prisoners shouldn't be getting compensation.

"But if they aren't given help to get off drugs they'll find them inside somewhere, and when they're released they'll go back to their old ways."

The convicted robber, who has two grown-up daughters, is considering returning to his former trade - as a locksmith.

He offered to share half his £3,750 compensation with Mr Pritchard - something his victim doubts will happen, however.

"I'll believe it when I see it - but if it ever materialises I shall donate it to a local charity so at least some good comes of this," he said.